Lack of knowledge

Criticism of the coal seam gas industry that has appeared in all sections of the media over the past few months is, without any doubt, based on lack of overall knowledge of this very useful and relatively safe resource that we have in abundance in Australia.
Over the past century or more much of the industrial world has been heavily reliant on coal for its heating and electricity. Coal is also a plentiful resource and has often been described as a useful but a cheap and nasty commodity.
Thousands of men working in the coal mines died from dangerous and poor working conditions and numerous accidents that occurred because of the lack of workplace health and safety regulations. Many more were forced to give up work because of respiratory diseases caused by coal dust and coal gas from which they eventually died.
Thousands of acres of farming land were ruined by slag being stored around the pits or being torn up by open cut mining.
Strangely, over all these years, it has only been the Coal Miners Unions who have complained about this industry. When we consider the amount of money that has been invested in these coal mines and the serious profits that have been taken out of them, it’s little wonder that the media and the public generally left them alone.
Coal seam gas has been used in the United States for well over 20 years; it has been the fuel for home heating, cooking, and motor vehicles. The gas had problems in the beginning but it was put through a rigorous process that took the serious problems away and it has become a very successful fuel.
This gas is obtained by drilling a hole about 30 centimetres across into coal seams. It is then drawn off these seams and transported hundreds of kilometres by pipes buried under the ground. This gas has been used as fuel in electricity power stations in Queensland for some years without serious problems.
The coal mining industry can see that their monopoly in the supplying of fuel for generating electricity and the considerable salaries and profits that go with that situation will be seriously affected when coal seam gas replaces coal.
There can be very little doubt that the coal miners and their supporters are working very hard and spending a lot of money to make the coal seam gas industry look bad.
Geoffrey H Gilmour,
Stanthorpe